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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29016552">The Expanse: The Beginning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Woman15258/pseuds/Mad_Woman15258'>Mad_Woman15258</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Expanse: The Collected Stories [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Expanse (TV), The Expanse Series - James S. A. Corey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other, The Expanse but how it should have really happened</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:20:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,811</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29016552</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Woman15258/pseuds/Mad_Woman15258</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine all of your beloved characters from the books to the now hit Amazon Prime show weren't from Earth at all. Imagine for just a moment that they are all from a system almost 4 billion galaxies away from what we call Earth. And the story is about how they went looking for Earth. And we will take a look at all of their extraordinary long lives, each member of the Rocinante lived a good 500 years. And when they found Earth they all decided to stay here and seed this planet we all now call home. Yes the Protomolecule exists, Yes the Eros incident happened and it was absolutely awful, the Ring Gates did exist, the war between 2 planets did happen but they ended up blowing eachother up in the end; no matter how hard Holden tried to stop them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amos Burton/Alex Kamal, Amos Burton/Clarissa Mao, Bobbie Draper &amp; Alex Kamal, Clarissa Mao/Alex Kamal, Jim Holden/Naomi Nagata</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Expanse: The Collected Stories [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2128707</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Ilus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Finally I think I'm done with this chapter. Please enjoy!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Welcome to the Hubble Deep Field where our story starts, in a galaxy not unlike the Milky Way there were two planets, one was named Ilus and the other was named Atlas. Both planets were about equal distance from their suns as Earth and Mars are to the sun in the Milky Way. The scientists on Atlas discovered how to terraform and had built an atmosphere on Ilus thousands of years before Naomi Nagata was born. Although it was only at .5 Gs; Ilus thrived and about fifty years before she was born Ilus had declared their independence from Atlas. Things were very rocky at the beginning as are all new governments. But by the time Naomi was eighteen there was a shaky peace agreement between Ilus and Atlas and trade between the two planets was thriving. When Naomi was about to turn nineteen her parents, the high priest and priestess of the Order of the Rising Suns, decided that it was time for her to marry and continue the bloodline. Now being the daughter of the high priest and priestess Naomi had certain powers as we should like to call them. She could see into the possible futures that washed before her, Naomi could sense others feelings, and she could read people's thoughts. She saw the man her parents wanted her to marry through her mother's mindseye and immediately got a headache, the man's name was Marco Inaros and he had a dark future ahead of him. Naomi wanted no part of that.</p>
<p>Naomi's parents met with the Inaros family and they decided that the two would wed two months after the tournament. Luckily for Naomi, Marco decided to disappear; he left without a word to anyone, it was like he vanished into thin air. Naomi's parents were furious but she was at peace. Even if her parents found her another man to wed, Naomi knew that she wasn't destined to marry him, she knew she would go with an outsider off planet. She wasn't sure when but the time was coming, Naomi didn't want to tell her parents about her impending departure because she knew it would upset them deeply. She only told one person that she would be leaving Ilus soon, and that was her twin brother, Amos. (I know, record scratch moment, yes Amos was Naomi's twin brother.) As it turns out Amos had found an abandoned mine about five kilometers from the city where they both had been storing canned food, supplies, wood, and various metals to forge and trade with, Amos and Naomi were both very proficient fighters, being the children of the high priest and priestess they had to be. Every year the Order would hold a tournament and the prize was 1,000,000 in skript. Amos and Naomi had a plan, they would compete and whoever won would take the money and buy the rest of the supplies they would both need for a lifelong adventure.</p>
<p>It was the day before the tournament, Amos had signed them up for the tournament but Naomi was nowhere to be seen. She had told Amos that she had to take a walk and that she would be back before the tournament started. So Amos waited by the entrance of the coliseum as people were slowly starting to be called for the first round of fights. Naomi on the other hand was racing to the city gates, that morning she had finally had the vision she was waiting for, a man would be dropped off outside the city, a man who would be an outcast from his people. The outsider who would take her to the stars. As she neared the gates she saw a giant ship flying through the air. A small figure was dropped down off the ship and it flew away leaving the man in a charred circle of grass. Naomi raced through the gates and outside the city walls towards her destiny.</p>
<p>*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************</p>
<p>"You are hereby relieved of duty James Holden, you are officially an outcast to your race and will never be allowed on Atlas again. All of your personal effects will be recycled and you will be left with nothing but your ID card and some skript." the commanding officer barked at James for almost another hour before he was finally dropped off on Ilus.</p>
<p>James squinted as he floated down from the ship's airlock in his vac-suit, the sun was brighter on Ilus there was less smog polluting the air here. He sighed as the ship took off finally he was free. He took off his helmet and breathed in the clean air of Ilus, he could smell the wild flowers and the grass and the sun. Ilus was a really pretty planet, he thought. He heard the sound of pounding feet on the grass and he got ready to be faced with an army. But as James turned around all he saw was a beautiful red headed woman with bright green eyes and tanned skin from years of being in the sun. Something tugged at his whole being that this was the woman he would spend the rest of his days with. James smiled as she walked up and before he could say anything she kissed him. Everything about this moment felt right, like it was meant to be. He wrapped his arms around her and they stood there for a minute in each other's arms. </p>
<p>"My name is Naomi Nagata I know where you can stash your metal suit. In a cave about 1 kilometer from here, it's an abandoned mine. My brother and I have been saving up supplies for your visit. I knew this day would come so we have been gathering supplies for our journey." she said with a small warm smile on her face. </p>
<p>James looked at her a little dumbfounded, "My name is James Holden, take me to your cave." he burst out laughing and then seriously said, "Thank you for being here please lead the way." He relaxed a little bit.</p>
<p>Naomi led him to the abandoned mine where she and Amos had been stockpiling weapons, food, wood, gold, silver, copper, nickel, titanium, platinum, steel, various gemstones and crystals, and a variety of building materials. James entered the cave following Naomi and when his eyes fell upon the treasure trove all he could think was if there was a little bit more steel he could build a ship and they could leave this whole solar system behind but he knew what Atlas was working on and he had to stop them before people ended up dying. "You know you have almost enough materials here to build a spaceship." James said.</p>
<p>"I don't know what a spaceship is, my whole life has been all about the Order of the Rising Suns, focused on my skills and healing abilities. But I did know you would need these materials when you arrived." Naomi said matter-of-factly.</p>
<p>James' mouth dropped open, "Even with trade now established between Atlas and Ilus you have no idea what a spaceship is?" he asked.</p>
<p>Naomi shook her head, "I grew up in a temple I haven't even been to another city."</p>
<p>"Alright help me out of my vac-suit and I'll show you what I'm talking about." James took off his oxygen tank and removed the neck collar that kept his helmet air tight. He unzipped his vac-suit revealing stone cut abs and tanned skin. Naomi walked over and helped his massive biceps out of the arms of the suit. She burned for him, she wanted him in every possible way and as soon as she decided that the vac-suit came off with a slight pop past his ankles. Naomi fell backwards onto the dirt and James sighed with relief. As Naomi was sitting back up she caught sight of his underwear floating to the ground, they must have come off while she was pulling the suit down. Before she could fully stand James was there offering a hand but all Naomi could see was his naked form. James walked up to Naomi and touched her forehead, suddenly flashes of space and battles and zooming through the stars plused through her mind, she was a little taken aback naomi had thought only the people of Ilus could share memories. She blushed bright red and got on her feet quickly, Naomi turned around and pointed to a chest she knew was full of clothes.</p>
<p>"That chest has clothes in it please help yourself." Naomi heard the chest open and the rustle of fabric, she turned around just a smidge and was met with his blue, blue eyes.</p>
<p>James and Naomi rushed to each other and frantically started kissing. He held her in his massive arms and then pulled away, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that."</p>
<p>Slightly gasping Naomi replied, "It's okay, I'm okay, I want this only if you want to."</p>
<p>James picked Naomi up and found a stack of blankets to lay her on. He slowly started taking off her sparring armor and her shoes. Once she was completely bare in front of him James started to nuzzle her neck and then her sternum and then his lips moved to her breasts. Naomi's back arched as his mouth latched onto her breast, as soon as she thought she couldn't take anymore he moved to the other breast. As he started to play with her other breast one of his hands moved down, trailing down her body to her warmest spot. Naomi groaned as James began to stimulate her, her hips bucked and her legs twitched but he wouldn't stop until she was shaking from every little touch. Which he achieved very quickly, as soon as she had climaxed James entered her. </p>
<p>"Wait you haven't ever done this before?" James asked Naomi, all she could manage was a quick shake of her head, "Then I'll be gentle."</p>
<p>*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************</p>
<p>Amos was still waiting by the gates of the coliseum luckily because he and Naomi were some of the last entries; they were some of the last people to compete. He knew Naomi would be there on time but he had no idea what she took off for. She looked like a bat out of hell running down the street like her destiny was dragging her through the city. Amos had no idea what had dragged her down the street, but he guessed it was that mysterious outsider she always talked about. All he could think about was the look on Naomi's face when she said she would be back and the tournament. Amos had been training his whole life to one day lead the temple guards to protect his sister when she became the high priestess. He stretched and did some light exercises and then sat down and meditated. </p>
<p>Almost 3 hours later Naomi came walking up the street looking a little wobbly. She saw Amos sitting there on the ground in a meditative state by the coliseum gates. She reached out with her mind letting Amos know that they were there before she approached him with a stranger. Amos immediately sprang up and spun towards them. He smiled at his sister then glared at the man behind her. He knew by the way they were holding each other and by the way Naomi was walking that this man had taken her virginity. Amos raged inside, he had no idea who this man was and yet his sister had run off to find him and then Naomi had sex with him. Amos knew his sister had powers of divination but this outsider was from Atlas and he was up to something. Amos could tell by the look in the outsiders eyes that he knew something bad was coming. Amos had strong powers of intuition almost like Naomi's divination, but Amos knew that the outsider would also give his life to protect Naomi.</p>
<p>"Amos, this is James Holden." Naomi started to say.</p>
<p>"Please call me Jim." Jim quickly interjected.</p>
<p>Naomi sighed, "Amos this is Jim, Jim this is my brother Amos; this is the man I have been seeing in my visions."</p>
<p>As Amos was about to reply the announcer called his name and another competitor to come to the arena. Naomi and Jim followed Amos to the inner gates of the coliseum where they watched him take down his competition in less than ten minutes. Amos came back through the gates without even a drop of sweat on his brow. Jim was impressed he smiled at Amos and was about to say something but Naomi gave him a look and Jim closed his mouth. Amos glared at Jim but said good luck to Naomi as her name was called. Naomi put her helmet on and pulled out her twin blades. She walked through the gates to see a man almost five times her size walk out of the gate on the other side. Naomi gulped but knew she could take him down easily with her speed and her size. The one thing she really had to watch out for was his sword and those fists. </p>
<p><em> ‘Take him down quickly, we need to talk, sister. Go for his ankles and it should be easy to take him down from there.’ </em>Amos said to Naomi through their psychic connection.</p>
<p>The man in front of her was intimidating to say the least although her brother’s tip wasn’t really going to help much. The announcer said to begin and the big man swung first which was his fatal mistake. Naomi dodged under the blade, rolled under his legs, jumped up and ran up his back to give him a quick crack on the skull. The big man blinked twice and then fell to the ground, out cold. As the man fell Naomi flipped off his back and landed safely with both feet on the ground. Jim stood by the gate mouth hanging open, he had never seen anyone fight the way those siblings had. Naomi was exceptional at strategy and Amos was a brute with brains for strategy as well. </p>
<p>“You know you’re going to catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that.” Said a voice from inside the hall in the darkness, “Naomi is beautiful when she fights, practically flies through the air. You know she is supposed to be my wife.” A man with darkly tanned skin, black curly hair, and brown eyes came out of the shadows, “So you can stop staring at her now.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think I like your tone Inaros.” Amos said getting in between Jim and the other man, “This is Marco, scum of the earth, decided to disappear right after his parents had agreed with mine that the two of them should marry. You have no right to claim my sister Marco Inaros. Now either leave and never come back or I will strike you down right here and now.” Amos put a hand on his sword and glared menacingly at Marco.</p>
<p>Marco put his hands up in mock defeat, “You haven’t seen the last of me Nagata. I’ll come for her one day and you won’t be around to stop me.”</p>
<p>Amos would have strangled Marco if Jim hadn’t put his hand on Amos’ shoulder. “Idle threats are just that, idle. If he comes for her I will protect her.”</p>
<p>Amos knew Jim was telling the truth but he knew one day Marco would try to take her, “Keep her as close to you as you can, Marco’s family is rich and powerful, he could do exactly what he is threatening to do with almost no repercussions; at least here on Ilus.”</p>
<p>Naomi walked up to Jim and Amos and knew something bad had happened, Amos looked like he had seen a ghost and Jim’s mouth was set in a hard line. “You two look like you have seen a ghost. What happened?”</p>
<p>“Nothing you need to worry about Naomi, let's get ready for the next round.” Amos grabbed her arm and dragged her outside. Jim followed quickly behind a little taken aback by Amos’s sudden capture of Naomi.</p>
<p><em>‘Amos, where are you taking me?’ </em>Naomi thought furiously, ‘<em>Do not try and lose Jim he will keep up and it will only frustrate you further.’</em></p>
<p>Amos whirled on his sister, ‘<em>You slept with him, you don’t even know him and you had sex with him! I am beyond upset that you left the city to sleep with a stranger.’</em></p>
<p><em>‘Amos he isn’t a stranger he is my soulmate I’ve known that man for a thousand lifetimes already. And I will know him in a thousand more lifetimes. He is the only one I was meant to be </em>with<em>.’ </em>Naomi thought with tears in her eyes, her brother’s grip was tightening around her wrist.</p>
<p>“Let her go or you’ll end up breaking her wrist son.” Amos dropped Naomi’s wrist and whirled around to see his mother standing there. “You shouldn't have yelled at Naomi like that Amos. As a high priestess in training Naomi is allowed one man to give her virginity to before she is married. Usually it's to the man they are going to marry like it was with your father and I, but I knew that this man would one day come and take her away from Ilus, and you my son. I also have been informed of both of your entries to the tournament. There is much to talk about before the second round of the games begins, follow me.” The high priestess spun around and led the way into the temple. </p>
<p>**********************************************************************************************</p>
<p>“Mother this is Jim Holden, he is from Atlas, and I will be leaving with him one day. This is my destiny mother, please don’t try and stop me.” Naomi pleaded.</p>
<p>Her mother sighed, “I told your father this day would come but he didn’t believe me. Whatever else you need for that ship of yours James Holden you will have to get it yourselves, the Order cannot be involved with any of it. We can help find suppliers for your materials but you all will have to buy them yourselves. Marissa was always meant to be a high priestess anyway, I knew that one day that my first born children would leave Ilus. All we would be able to give you is food for the journey.”</p>
<p>“As it is it will take a couple of years to build the ship. So you have them for at least two more years before they leave.” Jim said.</p>
<p>“Good that’s long enough to settle my children’s affairs here and transfer the title of high priestess-in-training to your younger sister Marissa. And in six months time I expect a marriage proposal for my daughter Naomi." The high priestess looked expectantly at Jim.</p>
<p>He nodded and took a quick glance at Naomi, “I will agree only if Naomi wants to marry me.” Naomi smiled at him and nodded her head. </p>
<p>“Then it’s settled, there will be a celebration here in six months from today. I also had every last piece of money that your father and I have been saving for you two gathered and it's waiting in each of your rooms, it is split evenly between the two of you. Now I think it's time you two returned to the tournament, you two will be called soon. If you wanted a better view of their fights Mr. Holden, our family has a box in the arena, but if you want to be introduced to your soon to be father-in-law later you can meet him at dinner.” With that the high priestess stood and walked out of the temple.</p>
<p>Jim looked at Naomi and sighed “We better get you back to the arena.”</p>
<p>“I can show you where my parent’s box is if you like, my father isn’t really into big surprises, like meeting his soon to be son-in-law at a dinner that my father was only expecting his children to be at.” Naomi said.</p>
<p>“That would be great Naomi.” Jim said. The two of them walked out of the temple where they heard the crowd of onlookers cheering from the coliseum. </p>
<p>Naomi showed Jim to the box her family had in the coliseum and sat down next to her father as Jim stood by the doorway to the box. “Father, there is someone I would like for you to meet. His name is Jim Holden and he proposed to me. Mother will probably explain it better but I wanted to introduce the two of you so that you all weren’t strangers.” With that Naomi stood and led JIm to the seat she had just occupied. “Please get to know each other.” Naomi turned on her heel after that and sped towards the competitors gate.</p>
<p>***************************************************************************************</p>
<p>The tournament lasted for a whole week because of the sheer volume of people who had entered, in the end Amos and Naomi did end up fighting each other at the very end. Amos had agreed to let Naomi win if it had come down to the two of them in the end. <span>Amos had agreed to let Naomi win if it had come down to the two of them in the end. As they walked out into the arena Amos and Naomi were greeted with loud cheers and jubilation. Each of them waved to the crowd and the cheering grew louder.</span></p>
<p>
  <span>The high priestess stood and said, “With this final contest we will determine a winner. Let the fight begin!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘You remember what we talked about Amos?’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>Naomi thought to her brother.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘Yeah I do, we fight in the beginning and just as it looks like I am going to win I feign and you win.’</span>
  </em>
  <span> Amos thought back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amos and Naomi readied their weapons and began to fight, it started off as just normal sparring moves, and then Amos started getting serious. Naomi could tell that Amos was still angry at her for running off but that couldn’t be helped. He swung his axe and grazed Naomi’s arm, she jumped back grabbing her arm. Naomi pulled her hand away and saw red, the fight was over in a matter of minutes after that, Naomi had Amos in a chokehold and he had finally fallen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amos tapped on Naomi’s arms to try and get her to let go but she was holding on for the kill. He knew what had happened then, Naomi went berserk. He looked at his mother and thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘Naomi is in berserk mode stop her.’</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The high priestess stood and called her guards, ten men twice the size of Naomi came running into the arena to pull Naomi off of Amos. It took all of them to do it but finally Amos was free and Naomi was coming down from her bloodlust. The guards had to hold her down or else she would have taken every single one of the guards down. Naomi thrashed and screamed against the guards. Her flight or fight response was overloaded and she just wanted to run away. As her breathing was starting to calm down Jim walked up and touched Naomi’s forehead. Naomi went limp and Jim picked her up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did we win?” Naomi asked weakly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes we did.” Jim replied as he walked out of the arena with Naomi in his arms. He walked back to the temple, “Point me to your room, you need to lay down.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s up- up the stairs and the third door on the right. What did you do to me?” Naomi weakly spoke.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a military trick, when a soldier goes berserk an officer would share a calming memory to stop them from killing their allies. It packs a hell of a kick so just relax.” Jim said as he walked up the stairs. “All I did was share some memories when I have felt the calmes, it seemed to have worked.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I want to know more about you Jim.” Naomi said right before she passed out in his arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jim laid Naomi down on her bed and pulled up a chair to sit by her side, “We will have the rest of our lives Naomi.” She smiled in her sleep and rolled over. Jim smiled and relaxed in the chair, before he knew it, he too, had passed out. It had been an eventful week, the high priestess had started preparations for their wedding, Jim and Naomi had taken stock of the supplies she and her brother had been gathering for six years, and Amos and Jim had taken all the money from the high priestess and the tournament to buy titanium and steel and a bunch of electrical equipment. It had been a very eventful week indeed. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Space</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>(Almost a year later)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Naomi? Where did you go?” Jim asked groggily as he felt her side of the bed was empty. Jim stood and turned on the light, Naomi wasn’t in the room at all. “Well I wonder where she could have gone?” Jim’s hand terminal binged and he looked at it. A message from Naomi popped up.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jim, I'm at the mine. We have a problem.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim sighed the tournament was just around the corner and travelers from all over Ilus had come to compete. Naomi had unfortunately been banned from entering again because she was a former winner, but Amos and Jim had entered this year and one of them would probably win. With the travelers came the teenagers with nothing better to do than explore and when they found the abandoned mine they tried stealing some of the supplies there. Luckily Amos had decided that with the tournament just around the corner he built a little shack outside the mine to protect their supplies. Amos had scared them away for the night but the teenagers came back during the day thinking no one would be there. Amos and Naomi were there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the five teen boys entered the mine they weren’t expecting to get knocked out and then tied up. All of them woke up soon after that and freaked out. Jim had arrived during the time they were out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the five boys were waking Amos noticed and jokingly said, “Maybe we should sell them.” The boys started to freak out and Amos laughed, “Relax kids you aren’t going to be sold, although we could.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amos no.” Naomi said, “We can dump them in front of Star Helix, let their parents pick them up in handcuffs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is cruel and unusual punishment just let us go and we won’t come back here.” one of the boys piped up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No you need to be taught a lesson, stealing is against the law.” Jim said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boys groaned as Amos started to load them up on a cruiser. After Amos was finished he drove off toward the city to drop the boys in front of Star Helix. JIm looked at Naomi and together they went further into the mine. One of the reasons this mine was abandoned, not just because there was little to be found there, but because 25 years ago the roof of one of the mining caverns collapsed. Amos and Naomi spent the first year they had found the mine reinforcing all the walls and other ceilings. After they did that, the two of them had hollowed out the collapsed cavern and put a tarp over the top to keep the rain out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We are having some problems hooking up some of the power couplings and the last few computers need to be built but we will be able to leave Ilus in just a few weeks.” Naomi said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good to hear. I’ll get started on the computers in just a minute but first I want to talk about this morning.” Jim said as he grabbed Naomi’s thigh with his right hand. He nuzzled her face and kissed his way down her neck. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naomi gasped a little as Jim’s left hand slid over her breasts and down her body to her most special place. “We have to get this ship built, you said so yourself, but I also know how much you have been pushing yourself so I let you sleep.” Naomi said as she pulled away, panting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, you win. I’ll get to work on the computers and figure out what’s wrong with the hookups for the power couplings.” Jim said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>*********************************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>2 weeks later</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Today was the day before the tournament, Jim had just finished hooking up the latest computer when Naomi had come onto the ship, she looked sad. “What’s wrong love?” Jim asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to miss Ilus when all of this is over.” Naomi said, “I know this may be the last time I get to see my parents and it’s taking its toll on me. Jim, I’m scared.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim rushed to Naomi’s side and held her, “It’s okay to be scared of the unknown. I’m scared too. I promise to protect you through it all Naomi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naomi smiled and kissed him, “Do you need help hooking up the guidance system computer?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, no I’m almost done. Just two more computers; one for the firing system and the other to keep track of all the systems on board and we will be ready to leave.” Jim finished hooking up the computer and it beeped to life. After that Naomi and Jim walked all the way back to the city arm in arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At dinner that night Naomi noticed that her mother was solemn and quiet and distant. When dinner concluded Naomi pulled her mother aside and they talked for almost two hours about he and Amos leaving. And her mother had seen a vision that after the tournament would be the last time she would ever see her twins again. The high priestess had stage 4 brain cancer and was going to die in just a few months. Naomi and her mother cried in each other’s arms for a few minutes before the high priestess said it was time to sleep because everyone had a big day tomorrow and they would all need their rest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naomi cried in Jim’s arms all night, her mother was going to die soon and there wasn’t anything that could be done. She would be leaving Ilus in a matter of weeks never to see her father or younger sister again. Amos would be coming too but the pain of leaving her little sister all alone broke her heart. Their father was a good man but who would teach her all the womanly ways in life? Who would escort her to her coming out party? Who will lead the guards to protect her? Naomi didn’t sleep but maybe for an hour that night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tournament began at 8am and Amos and Jim were some of the first few fighters, of course both of them won their prospective rounds and advanced. The first round of competitions lasted for three days. The second round lasted two days, Amos and Jim had advanced again to the third round which only lasted one day. The fourth round determined who would advance to the final round which Amos and Jim both did. The final round was different every year, this year, the ten who remained would battle one on one with each other but with a twist. The first two people would fight and then the winner of that battle would go on to fight in the next round. Whoever was knocked out first was replaced by someone else, the other fighter remains for as long as they aren’t defeated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amos was up first against a man almost twice his size. They danced around each other for a minute sizing each other up. The big man swung first, big mistake, his sword was heavy and he was slow to move. Amos dodged easily and slashed the big man’s sword arm and then tried to sweep the big man’s legs from under him; that only unbalanced the big man a little. Amos looked a little intimidated but continued to try and bring the big man down. The fight lasted for Almost an hour but by the end of it the big man made a lucky strike on Amos’s back and knocked him out cold. Jim ran to Amos and made sure he was still breathing. Jim swallowed dryly as he picked Amos off the ground he may have to face that big man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A man from Atlas named Alex Kamal brought the big man down in the next fight. He took down four more competitors before he faced Jim. Alex was exhausted by that time but his eyes were sharp; he anticipated almost every single one of Jim’s sword swings, except for the one that knocked Alex out. Jim had to face two more people before the money could be theirs, he could do this right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>You can do this my love.’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>Naomi thought towards Jim.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim felt this soft tingle in the back of his neck and looked at Naomi sitting next to her mother in their family box. She smiled at him and sent another message of you can do this to him. Jim felt this calming feeling come over him and he suddenly felt like he could actually do this no matter how big his opponents are. Jim took down the last two competitors in ten minutes but not before his last opponent had stabbed his leg deeply. The coliseum went wild, Naomi ran down to the arena and hugged Jim. He groaned a little but hid his leg from Naomi, he still had to build the last suit, Naomi’s. He knew the man who he defeated first, Alex Kamal, would be joining them on their journey so he had built a suit for him. Jim had visions of the immediate future ever since he started living with Naomi. During their marriage ceremony the high priestess had performed something called a unity spell. Basically Naomi and Jim took something like Iowaska and went on a spirit journey together, and now Jim has some of Naomi’s abilities and Naomi could share small memories with people. The high priestess said as their bond grew so too would the visions and being able to talk to Naomi without talking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to check on Amos.” Naomi said and walked to the far side of the arena where the medic station was. Amos was awake and talking to Alex Kamal when Naomi walked up. “I’m glad you are awake Amos, looks like you didn’t get hit hard enough.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amos burst out laughing, “Nah I think you got that wrong sister, I got hit just hard enough. Naomi this is Alex Kamal the man who brought down the man who knocked me out. Did Jim win?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes he did win, and it’s nice to meet you Alex, my name is Naomi.” Naomi said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nice to meet you too darling.” Alex said with a thick southern accent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Alex was telling me that he used to be a pilot, Jim might be interested.</span>
  </em>
  <span>’ Amos thought to Naomi she nodded and then smiled at them both.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>**********************************************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you like a job Alex Kamal?” Jim asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What kind of job and also how dangerous would it be?” Alex asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You would be the pilot for our ship. And I have no idea how dangerous it will be. But it won’t be without it’s dangers, space is a dangerous place.” Jim replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex nodded and thought about it for a minute, he could either stay on Ilus or return to Atlas or go with this stranger on what seemed like a lifelong journey. “Well I’m always up for a little adventure when do we leave?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In a week.” Jim said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>********************************************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(A week later)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim had finally finished all of the computers for the ship and was putting the last touches on Naomi’s flight suit, Jim had built the whole ship almost by himself. All of their supplies had been loaded onto the ship now they just needed to name the ship, “Alright crew, what should we name her?” Jim asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Screaming Firehawk.” Alex said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just because this ship has guns doesn’t mean we need to broadcast that to every enemy ship we come across.” Amos said</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about Rocinante? It means work horse. It’ll keep our ship pretty anonymous.” Naomi chimed in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I knew a lady named Rocinante once, she was good to me, I like it.” Amos said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rocinante, that’s a good name for this ship, thank you Naomi.” Jim said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re welcome.” Naomi said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everyone suit up, we are leaving this rock in 3 hours. We have a lot of work to do, We have to get to the Canterbury before anything happens to it.” Jim said.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Dulcinea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>My husband who was helping me write this died on 2\6\2021 so it will be a while before i get the urge to write anymore. Sorry but i need time to grieve the loss of my soul mate, my James R. Holden.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>An hour before they left Ilus the high priestess came by their take off point to introduce them to someone. His name was Shed Garvey, he was a medic. Jim accepted him on board and then they left Ilus. After they left orbit and they were in zero G Naomi got up and walked to the room that Jim had said was hers if she ever needed some privacy or space from him. She looked around the room and smiled, one of Jim’s paintings was there, it was her favorite one, it was the whole city that she had grown up in. Naomi cried a little bit knowing her mother would be dead in a matter of weeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>**********************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the 23rd Century, humans have colonized the solar system. The U.N. controls Atlas, Ilus is an Independent Military Power. The Inner planets depend on the resources from the asteroid belt. Belters live and work in space. In the Belt, air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising, Atlas, Ilus, and the Belt are now on the brink of war. All it will take is a single spark. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>*******************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Scopuli</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Julie woke to the loud speaker going off, she appeared to be locked in her room. She heard the clang of mag boots on the floor, the ship rocked violently for hours. Julie floated there in her cell and curled into a ball. Days passed and not a sound was heard outside her door, no matter how hard she banged on it or screamed for hours. Weeks seemed to pass in that space before she broke out. Julie put her hair up and wandered around the seemingly empty ship, there were spots of blood everywhere. A headless vac suit floated by her and she gasped, there was still a body in that suit. Finally she found the door she was looking for, the door to the reactor room. Julie found a cutting torch and cut through the door. What she saw she almost couldn’t comprehend, something bright and organic was growing on the reactor. She saw something move and realized that it was a man being devoured by whatever was on the reactor, she screamed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>****************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ceres Station</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ceres was once covered in Ice. Enough water for a thousand generations. Until Atlas and Ilus stripped it away for themselves. This station became the most vital port in all the belt. But the immense wealth and resources that flow through our gates were never meant for us. Belters work the docks, loading and unloading precious cargo, we fix the pipes and filters that keep this rock living and breathing. We belters toil and suffer, without hope and without end. And for what? One day Ilus will use it’s might to wrest Ceres from Atlas and Atlas will go to war to take it back. No matter who controls Ceres, it’s all the same to us. To them, we will always be slaves! That’s all we are to the inners. They built their solar system on our backs, spilled the blood of a million of our brothers. But in their eyes, We are not even human anymore. So the next time you look in the mirror say the word: ‘Slave’. Everytime we demand to be heard,  they hold back our water, owkwa beltalowda, ration our air, ereluf beltalowda, until we crawl back into our holes, imbobo beltalowda and do as we are told.” The speaker made a rude gesture at the screen that said water rationing in effect.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the belter was speaking two star helix cops walked into the crowd. The younger one looked around and saw a lot of belters at this rally. His partner walked up and said “Watch your eyes, people have been killed over a wrong look down here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We could run him for inciting.” the rooky said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Time and place.” the older cop said quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey you, Badge!” the Belter said, “Days coming soon, Keya? And when the blood is on the wall, sase ke which side you're on?’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah I’ll know.” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See you then, welwala.” the belter said, making the same rude gesture to the older cop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is Welwala?” The rooky asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The older cop looked a little taken aback but said, “Traitor to my people.” In response to the rooky’s question the older cop started to walk off, “Come one, we have work to do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They walked off into the crowd. They got to a brothel where one of the ladies had called in a murder. The older cop talked to her for a bit and found out the man was killed over some unpaid drug money and the guy who sold it to him didn’t quite like not getting his money back. They left the brothel but the rooky thought about what the woman had said in belter creole. The rooky kept asking questions about some of the words that the lady of the night had said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The older cop stopped, “You are never going to pass for a belter, everytime they look at you all they will see is Atlas.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Says the belter dressed like someone from Atlas. What’s with the hat anyway?” the rooky asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It keeps the rain off my head.” The older cop said, the rooky scoffed. “Come on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(A couple of hours later at a bar on Ceres)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, what am I looking for?” the rooky asked, looking around the bar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The older cop sighs, “Alright, you see that piss poor rockhopper down there?” The older man points to a very skinny guy with scraggly hair. “He’s trying to cover it up with that baggy flight suit. You see the way his skin just hangs off the bone? You get the red eyes and the shakes when your body rejects the growth hormones.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You also get that from a little too much whiskey.” the rooky quipped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nah, tremors, man. You get that from growing up in low G. Your muscles don’t develop right.” The older cop said after he took a drink from his glass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess that’s from generations in low G, huh?” the rooky asked, pointing to a guy with a lot of OPA tattoos.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Someday every belter gonna look just like that.” the older cop sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about you?” The rooky asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about me?” the older cop asked back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s your tell?” the rooky asked as he faced the older cop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The belter with the OPA tattoos piped up, “Oh let me help you with that, Inyaloda. This one, he has spurs at the top of his spine where the bones didn’t fuse right. He got the cheap bone density juice when he was a child, probably a ward of the station. So, even if he disguises himself, he’s just like me.” The belter grabbed the older cop's hat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The older cop grabbed the belters arm quickly, “I am nothing like you, longbone. Take your OPA bullshit back to the Medina, and wait for the revolution with all the rest of the victims.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The owner of the bar said, “Please take this outside.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>WIth that the older cop quickly got up and put the belters arm behind his back and led him outside. “Lunch breaks over rooky.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(An hour later)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On the shuttle car back to Star Helix the older cop bumped into a belter with a loud shirt on purpose. “Hey, voyu.” the older cop said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh I’ve been looking for you.” He said, looking a little nervous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I trust you changed those air filters, right?” the older cop asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Full compliance, mi sa-sa.”  the belter with the loud shirt said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The older cop held out his hand discreetly, “Good, good.” the belter dropped a few skript into his hand, “No need for a visit then.” As he said this the announcer on the shuttle car said ‘Now arriving at Star Helix and Emergency Services’. The older cop nodded at the belter and told the rooky to follow as he walked off the shuttle car. They walked into the Star Helix building where some asshole belter was just smiling like an idiot and giving the booker a hard time. The older cop slammed the belters head down on the desk and said angrily, “You better listen to her asshole.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The booker looked shocked for half a second before yelling, “Jesus, Miller. MILLER, hey if I want his ass kicked I’ll do it myself.” the older cop looked at the booker and then walked away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Any laws against beating up suspects?” the rooky asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No laws on Ceres, just cops.” the older cop, Miller, said as he walked into his bosses office. Miller sat in a small chair where he noticed blood on his shoe, he took a napkin, spit in it, and cleaned off his shoe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have something for you, new contract. Just you, not Havelock, he’s too new.” Captain Shaddid said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You sidelining me Captain?” Miller asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Shaddid replied, “This is off-book. On your own time.” Miller leaned forward intrigued. “A favor someone down on Atlas is doing for a shareholder.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Miller leaned back, “Oh we are groveling to the Shareholders now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I need someone discreet.” Shaddid said looking at Miller.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, say no more.” Miller replied quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve linked you to the files. A little lost daughter case, Ariadne and Jules-Pierre Mao.” Shaddid said as she shared the files with Miller.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mao-kwikowski Mercantile?” Miller asked</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shaddid sat back in her chair with a small smile, “They are Luna-based. They do a lot of shipping through Ceres.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Miller whistled, impressed by the fact this family had money coming out of their ears, “And yet somehow they misplaced their daughter.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shaddid rocked her office chair from side to side, “Black sheep. Went to college and got involved with a group called the Far Horizons Foundation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Miller sighed as he watched one of the videos his captain had sent him, Julie yelling in a protest. “Students, with big ideas and big mouths. Why do the parents want her found all of a sudden?” Miller asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably got tired of her embarrassing the old man, it’s all in the files.” Shaddid replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.” Miller said as he got up from the too small chair, “So what’s my contract exactly?” he asked, turning back to his captain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Find Julie Mao and if she is still on Ceres, detain her and ship her home.” Shaddid replied nonchalantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kidnap job, my pleasure.” Miller sighed and walked out of the office.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>************************************************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Rocinante (About a day behind the Canterbury)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim kissed Naomi passionately as they floated in the air because space has no gravity. Jim moaned and gripped Naomi’s thighs, she was on top and sex in space is something else. Jim hooked his feet under the elliptical bike in his room and thrusted a little bit. Naomi moaned loudly and twitched. “You're entirely too good at this.” Naomi sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they finished Alex’s voice piped up from the loudspeaker, “Captain, we need to increase our breaking burn or else the Canterbury will see us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Jim and Naomi had time to disentangle themselves the warning system came on and announced ‘Gravity has increased’. Jim and Naomi landed on the floor and Naomi groaned as Jim was thrust into her hard. Jim finished as soon as they had landed on the floor. They both sighed and Naomi sat up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Holden we could use you on deck.” Alex piped up on the loudspeaker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We never saw it.” Jim said as he kissed Naomi again, “Don’t get dressed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naomi smiled and stood slowly, wrapping the blanket around herself; she sighed contentedly as  she sat on the bed. Jim pulled on his suit and went to the flight deck where Amos and Alex were talking about how to approach the Canterbury without altering their sensors. Amos looked up and tapped Alex on the shoulder, “Hey Holden the Roci picked up a distress call, no doubt the Canterbury also picked it up, but they are staying on course, I don’t think they are going to answer it.” Alex said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The dashboard pinged altering everyone on the flight deck that the Canterbury was changing course towards the distress call. “Alex bring up that distress call, see what it is about.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex went up the ladder and sat down in the pilot’s chair and pulled up the distress call, “It’s a light freighter called the Scopuli. It’s next to a charted non-belt asteroid. Someone must have boosted the signal because there is a voice coming through.” Alex called down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get me a direct line to the Cant, they need to know it’s a trap.” Jim said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We are too far out, the delay is at least 30 minutes, but I can try.” Alex clicked a couple of buttons, “They turned off their comms, we can’t even send a message.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now I wonder why they would do that?” Naomi asked as she walked through the door to the flight deck, “Sounds like a trap to me and that maybe someone on the Cant did that on purpose.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everyone strap in.” Jim said, “We are going to burn hard to catch up with the Cant.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>****************************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Atlas and Luna</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chrisjen Avasarala looked at herself in the mirror looking at how many wrinkles she acquired last night, she sighed. A boy ran into the room and threw a water balloon at her, she gasped, “How many times have I told you, this calls for tickling!” She chased the boy down and tackled him to the couch tickling him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, stop!” the boy screamed in delight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arjun walked in “If you don’t stop the boy will wet himself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chrisjen smiled, “That’s the best thing about being a grandparent, I get to hand him back to his mother.” The whirring of helicopter blades beat through the air outside and the boy’s smile faded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her grandson sighed, “Amma do you have to go?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I do. I’m sorry. There’s someone I need to talk to.” Chrisjen replied, rubbing her grandson’s head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are people fighting again?” her grandson asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not yet, that is why we need to talk and tell the truth. When people don’t tell the truth it ends badly.” Chrisjen said before walking out to the helicopter that just landed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>**************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ceres Station</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Miller was rewatching the video of Julie at a rally. He was studying her face to make sure he knew what she looked like. So that if Julie was still on Ceres he could pick her face out of a crowd. The shuttle car stopped and Miller got off, what he saw made him angry. People were gasping for air, kids were wheezing because the oxygen levels were too low for them to breathe. Miller found the other Star Helix cops and asked, “What’s up, doll?” to one of the female officers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cheap ass air filters crapped out again, second time this month.” the female officer said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Havelock, the rooky, asked, “I guess this guy pays well to be taken care of, huh?” pointing to Vargas, the belter with the loud shirt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Miller narrowed his eyes at the belter, “Yeah he pays our bosses pretty well, too, pal. Look, don’t try and save the whole station on your first day. Pace yourself.” Miller said as he walked away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Any rain yet?” Havelock called after him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Rocinante (hours behind the Canterbury)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alex tell me what’s going on.” Jim said as he took the captain’s chair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Canterbury’s comms are still offline and the AI is picking something up off the Scopuli. The captain of the Canterbury is a man named Johnathan McDowell.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“McDowell? What the hell is he doing on an ice hauler?” Jim asked he checked his hand terminal, there it was McDowell’s number. He called it but no one answered. Jim left a message, ‘Captain McDowell, this Captain Holden of the Rocinante. The Scopuli is a trap, flip and burn hard out of there please.’ Hopefully Captain McDowell got Jim’s message.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How do you know that man?” Naomi asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When I was still an officer of the U.N. Navy fleet he was the sergeant right underneath me, We worked together.” Jim replied. “We have to burn harder to reach them in time if this message isn’t received.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>About 30 minutes later Jim’s hand terminal pinged, a message from McDowell popped up. ‘Some piece-o-shit do gooder logged the distress call to HQ we are legally binded to check out the Scopuli. But if you have a ship Holden and I’m assuming it’s one of your designs, you and your team could check it out and we would be free to leave. But otherwise we have to check it out to see if anybody is still alive and check the data core. Honestly I think the Scopuli is pirate bait.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim replied to the message with, ‘Flip and burn as hard as you can to Ceres, my crew will check out the Scopuli.’ Another 30 minutes later the crew of the Rocinante watched as the gigantic ice hauler flipped on its head and burned in the direction of Ceres Station; The Roci flew towards the Scopuli.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>**************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ceres Station</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Miller was sitting down at the same bar he always went to after work. After watching more videos of Julie and going through his files he noticed one of his co-workers was sitting at the other end of the bar. Miller downed his shot of whiskey and walked towards her. He noticed one of the sleazy detectives flirting with her so Miller sidled up next to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sleazy detective frowned as he turned toward Miller, “She’s off the clock.” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then she can tell me herself.” Miller said looking down his nose at the detective. Octavia nodded and the sleazy detective walked off looking dejected. MIller smiled a small smile at his co-worker and then sat down next to her, “I’d keep an eye on that guy. I hear collects moon rocks in his spare time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Octavia rolled her eyes, “You want to know what else he’s into?” she said snidely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, hey, now. I’m just looking out for ya. Actually I need a woman’s intuition.” Miller showed her the picture of Julie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Octavia looked at his hand terminal and asked, “Who is she?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh she’s just a missing persons case, I’m not ‘permitted to discuss’ you know.” He said with air quotes. Octavia leveled her gaze at Miller, “Juliette Andromeda Mao. She’s the richest bachelorette in the system. Now what would a rich girl do to really piss daddy off on Ceres?” Miller asked, resting his tipsy head on his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you asking what I did?” Octavia asked, “Bang every space bucker that I could find.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>MIller pressed his lips together and then sighed, “That’s not helpful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’m sorry Miller. Did you come here for my help?” Octavia asked jokingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on”, Miller said and rested his hand on hers, “Admit it, you miss me. You miss these little chats.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Octavia sat back pulling her hands away and realized Miller was drunk she looked into his eyes and said, with a vaguely concealed threat in her tone, “Goodnight, Miller.” Miller sighed and got up, he put his hat on and started to walk away, before he walked out Octavia said, “And eat something for god’s sake, you look like hell.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>******************************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Rocinante (the Canterbury is about an hour away from them now heading towards Ceres Station)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The configuration matches the registry information, It’s definitely the Scopuli. No IR or electro-mag other than the distress beacon. Looks like the reactor is shut down but there’s no radiation leakage.” Naomi said as she looked at the readings from the Scopuli.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about that thing that looks like a big hole in the side?” Jim asked, hovering over Naomi’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, LADAR says it's a big hole in the side of the ship.” Naomi replied, fighting a giggle, she could smell Jim’s shampoo. He was so close. Amos and Alex chuckled a little.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We got a message from the Canterbury, their big array is reading no one for a million clicks. Looks like we are the only game in town.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well we came, we saw, we uh left. No ones going to know if we set foot on that thing.” Shed said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim looked around at his small crew, “Take us in, and, Alex if something nasty is hiding in that ship, we bolt like hell and melt anything behind us in slag.” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good plan, hoss.” Alex said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim started to walk towards the airlock, “I’ll go in and poke around.” Making it sound like he would do it by himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naomi looked at her brother and Amos shook his head. “I’ll go with him,” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alex docked with the Scopuli and as Amos and Jim were waiting for the all clear Jim sarcastically said, “Good times.” Amos ready a gun and grabbed extra ammo, they went through the airlock and boarded the Scopuli. As they walked through the ship they came across the big hole in the side of the ship, “How do you think that happened?” Jim asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It wasn’t a torpedo, a breaching charge did that.” Amos replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They looked at each other for a second before Jim said, “Amos, keep that gun out.” He turned and started walking away, “Engineering first, I want to know why that reactor is offline.” They cautiously walked through the ship, about fifteen minutes later Jim and Amos found the reactor room. They couldn’t see that well but they could tell that the reactor was intact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The reactor wasn’t killed by the blast,” Amos said surveying the room, “Someone went through the shutdown procedures. So if everyone’s dead, who turned it off?” Amos asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well it wasn’t pirates, they wouldn’t have left all that behind.” Jim said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And they left all the pressure doors open.” Amos observed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So no one could hide.” Jim stated coldly. Amos turned around and was instantly on high alert, he readied his gun and yelled six o’clock as a vac suit helmet floated by. “Shed, Naomi, we need more eyes in here.” Naomi replied and JIm said, “Alright meet us on the bridge.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Jim, Naomi, Amos, and Shed were looking around the flight deck Shed said, “Hey guys, where are all the bodies?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim trying not to think about it said, “Amos, cut out the data core, we’ll take it with us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Roger that.” Amos said and got to work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim walked over to the control panels and tried to activate it, “These panels are all dead, how are they sending a distress beacon if the comms are dead?” Jim asked. He looked around at his crewmates and  then Amos ducked under the main control panel, Amos looked back at Jim and Jim kneeled down beside him. There was a black box with a red light on it under the main control panel. “Does that look like a bomb?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amos ripped the box off the panel, “If it was a bomb we’d all be toast, it’s a transmitter.” Amos said handing it to Naomi.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naomi studied it for a minute before saying, “This must be the beacon that called the Canterbury, someone planted it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pirate bait, McDowell was right,” Amos said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hoss! Forwarding an A-1 tightbeam from the Canterbury.” Alex said over the suits comms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Holden, a ship just appeared near your location.” McDowell said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How is that possible? You cleared us for a million clicks.” Jim asked, annoyed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It didn’t show up on any of our scopes, Sending you a rendezvous point, get the hell out of there.” McDowell said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jim, Amos, Naomi, and Shed bolted from the Scopuli and back to the Rocinante. “Alex, disengage.” Jim shouted. Everyone buckled up into their chairs and got ready for a fight. “Where the hell did that thing come from?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Damned if I know Captain!” Alex shouted back. “Just suddenly it was there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naomi piped in, “Stealth tech, it has to be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who the hell has stealth like that?” Amos asked as he was firing up a couple of the Roci’s guns.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ilus.” Jim replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>****************************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ceres Station</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Miller walked home from the bar swaying slightly, he was drunk and sad that he and Octavia had broken off their engagement. As he was walking up the stairs to his apartment he noticed a man with his daughter who had a bird on her hand, “That’s a cute kid, how old?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Two and a half,” the man replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi,” Miller said, waving to the little girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How about you, any kids?” the man asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Miller sighed sadly, “Yeah no, I missed that boat.” He continued up the stairs to his apartment. He really wished he hadn’t messed things up with Octavia, they could have had a family by now. Miller walked into his apartment and took off his jacket and tie. He opened his fridge to find the same things as yesterday, half a sandwich and a six pack of beer. Miller ignored the sandwich and rolled his sleeves up, he grabbed a beer and sat down on his balcony. It was a nice apartment, albeit a little small but just enough room for a single man. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Miller looked at his hand terminal and sighed, “What happened to you Julie Mao?” he asked the air. Miller heard kids playing in the garden and he stood to look, the bird that was in the girl’s hand had flown up to his balcony and Miller threw a sunflower seed at it, the bird caught the seed in its mouth. The kids were kicking around a ball and as they were the little two and a half year old started coughing as she tried saying, “Me turn, me turn.” Miller fumed, that old lying piece of shit Vargas didn’t keep up his end of the bargain. Time to pay him a visit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(a couple of hours later)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We had an understanding detective, an arrangement!” Vargas pleaded as Miller drug him to an airlock. “You can’t just-, it was a mistake!” Miller stood Vargas up and threw him into the airlock. Voyu thudded to the airlock’s outer door and Miller started the process for opening the airlock. The inner door locked and you could hear the hiss as the air was being sucked out of the airlock. Vargas screamed, “You’ve made your point, I’m a changed man! Thank you for opening my eyes!” Miller watched the ships come and go out of the port. “Twice the money! I’ll pay you double!” Vargas wheezed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Miller turned around quickly and opened the airlock's inner door and looked down at Vargas, “Air is good, don’t ya think? Air is nice. Keep those filters clean, asshole!” Miller said and then walked away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>**************************************************************************</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Rocinante (Heading away from the Scopuli at a high G burn)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rocinante we have your rendezvous.” the navigator said through the tightbeam.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Negative, unable.” Jim said quickly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Advise.” the navigator said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Boogey is 12,000 clicks and closing.” Alex announced.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Captain Holden please advise.” the navigator said frantically.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The alarm system blared as the incoming ship fired torpedoes, “Torpedoes launched!” Alex shouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re going to take them for a ride, Alex, go around the asteroid. Run ‘em, now! We’re going to lead those torpedoes into the rock!” Jim shouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s your situation? Please advise!” the navigator said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Alex counted down how close the torpedoes were getting everyone braced for an impact but it didn’t happen, as the Rocinante went behind the asteroid the torpedoes zoomed past the ship and towards the Canterbury. “Those weren’t meant for us.” Alex stated bewildered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Canterbury burn like hell you got incoming!” Jim said. “McDowell, eject the ice as a shield, all they want is the cargo!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re on it, Stay off this channel!” McDowell shouted. The Canterbury was too late even though Captain McDowell had ejected some of the ice it wasn’t enough to distract the torpedoes which flew straight into the Canterbury’s reactor core and blew the entire ship to smithereens. Jim shed a tear, his friend had just been blown up.</span>
</p>
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